For the last 30 years, your support has allowed us to save the lives of hundreds of animals and exemplify our motto: “The Animals Come First.”

Today, Wild Spirit is the largest canid sanctuary in North America, and as part of our continued goal to provide the best possible care for our rescues, it’s time we allocate funding towards the sanctuary’s infrastructure to secure our organization’s future and keep everyone thriving.

The buildings on our property were always intended to be “short-term” structures, but we have limped them along for decades in order to prioritize the animals in our care. Now, for the safety of our organization, animals, guests, and team, we are unable to delay their replacement any longer.

Simply put, the buildings on-site are falling apart. They were made from wood and other materials prone to deterioration, making them unable to survive the brutal weather conditions of the high desert (monsoon rains, high winds, fire season, and harsh winters). To update the critical structures that are vital to our operations, it will cost $1.5 million dollars, and we need your help to meet this goal. This quote doesn’t even include the construction of the additional buildings needed to grow our organization and save more lives.

To ensure this project allows the sanctuary to operate for decades to come, the replacement structures will be constructed as metal buildings, which are not only fire-retardant, but able to withstand the various weather conditions that have worn down our other buildings.

Required Buildings:
– Visitors’ Center & Gift Shop
– As the first impression guests receive of our sanctuary, the Visitors’ Center plays a critical role in our fiscal success by driving donations and revenue.
– Our current Gift Shop floods every time it rains and does not have adequate heat or AC.
– In order to be most efficient with our construction project, this building will replace our current Gift Shop, staff and Executive Director offices, public restrooms, team break room, and storage buildings.
– It will be equipped with a paved and ADA-compliant parking lot and an indoor seating area with a viewing window into one of our wolf enclosures.
– It would include the addition of an ADA-compliant tour path for visitors of all ages and abilities to enjoy the sanctuary grounds.

– Wolf Kitchen
– Our current Wolf Kitchen is unable to properly accommodate the amount of meat we need to keep on hand for our rescues.
– It would include a larger walk-in freezer and refrigerated cooling space in order to accommodate seasons where game and meat donations are abundant, to ensure we can stockpile the resources to have available when other resources are slim.
– Replacements of Current Staff and Intern Living Quarters with Modest, Livable Homes.
– Our current dwelling units are currently small, decaying wooden structures without access to basic accommodations such as running water, air conditioning, a place to cook, or bathrooms.
– Candy Kitchen is a tiny community of approximately 100 individuals, an hour away from the nearest town, which means access to homes in this area is excruciatingly limited. The remedied housing will empower Wild Spirit to staff all of its needed positions.

Wishlist Buildings:
– Garage & Workshop
– Would house and protect our costly machinery and equipment, like the backhoe, ATV, bobcat, and work trucks. Presently, these are exposed to the harsh weather conditions.

– Campground “Welcome Center”
– Would include an office space used to check guests in and out for their stay, and allow for the rental/sale of camping-related items such as grills, propane, chairs, ice, snacks, drinks, etc.
– Multiple showers, restrooms, and laundry facilities would also be available for public use, in addition to a dump-station for those with RVs.

– Multi-Room Intern Home
– To house additional Caretakers and expand our intern program, focused on preparing individuals for a lifelong and successful career in the Animal Care field.

– 2-4 Staff Housing Units
– These would be in addition to the units we need now, so we can not only humanely house our current staff, but also hire the positions most needed by our organization, such as:
– Animal Care staff
– Grant writer
– Donor relations coordinator
– Outreach coordinator

– On-site Vet Clinic
– A new medical unit would allow us to provide more medical care in house. We will be able to better store and procure medical equipment to aid in the diagnostics and treatment of our animals. Furthermore, we would be able to create additional recovery rooms. As a facility with over 70 rescues at any given time, we occasionally have the need for multiple recovery units.